This is for anyone interested in international trade, the improvement
of international trade, in particular the trade between the EU and
European countries, but also export and import trade activities from
the EU on an international
basis. All international trade-related disciplines,
companies, manufacturers, sales agents, distributors, chambers and
consultants are welcome. Everyone related in international trade can
list their products and or services and offer them for sale,
receive inquiries and orders or inquire about someone else's
products and services.

The Arts & Entertainment Industry: a very potential industrial activity in the EU, larger than wholesale and retail trade of motor vehicles, for instance!

In 2015, there were 1.2 million cultural enterprises in the EU, generating €200 billion of value added. In 2015, in terms of number of enterprises, the sector architecture, design and photography’ was the most important in the EU; in terms of value added, it was the audiovisual sector. In 2015, 80 % of people employed in the cultural sector in the EU worked in a small or medium-sized enterprise. In the EU overall, in 2015, around 1.2 million market-oriented businesses were recorded as belonging to a cultural sector as identified in SBS data (i.e. NACE divisions 90 and 91 not included). Representing 5 % of all enterprises in the non-financial business economy (NACE divisions B to N except K, and S95), cultural businesses accounted for 2.8 % of total Value added in the EU, or around EUR 200 billion. For the sake of comparison, this figure is higher than that for wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (NACE G45, EUR 165 billion). The cultural sector’s turnover (the total value of market sales of goods and services) was around EUR 475 billion, which represented 1.7 % of the total turnover of the non-financial business economy.

Autos, Cars & Accessories

In 2012 EU car trade with the rest of the world generated a surplus of €78 billion. The sector employs more than 2 million persons. In 2011, despite the recovery being reflected in a 5% increase in 2011 EU aggregate turnover relative to that of 2008, enterprises manufacturing parts and accessories for motor vehicles had returned to 2008 turnover levels in only 16 of 24 countries. Total turnover in the EU during those years went from €202 billion in 2008 down to €152 bn in 2009, and back up to €189 bn in 2010 and €211 bn in 2011. On average, the EU car ownership ratio was 1.2 cars per household, with the highest in Greece (1.8) and lowest in Romania (0.6). Car sales per household ranged from 23% in Luxembourg to 2% in Croatia.

Boats, Boats Building, Repair & Maintenance, Sales & Marketing

Europe’s economy continued to gain ground in 2015, with GDP across the euro zone picking up to 1.5% in 2015 from a weak 0.9% the previous year. In the absence of registration figures or consistent boat sales data for Europe we view data on new car sales as a proxy of relative demand for big-ticket purchases. In 2015, all but two countries posted growth across the EU28 region (plus Norway, Switzerland and Iceland). New passenger car sales for the combined region were up 9.2% to 13 million units. Particularly notable was the double-digit recovery in previously weak markets, with Spain up 21%, Italy up 16% and France up nearly 12.5%. Results from leading boatbuilders indicate that European boat sales began to follow the upward trends in the auto market in 2015. Brunswick Corporation reported its marine revenues in Europe up 13% for the year, with growth driven by boats under 30 feet. The company’s biggest European markets for the year were Scandinavia, France, Italy and Germany. The Bénéteau Group confirmed a strong showing in Europe as well, where the builder generated 48% of its boat revenues, noting “particularly good” sales in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Similarly, Azimut-Benetti reported a 10% increase for its 2015 financial year to €650 million, with market share gains in Europe, especially with new models in the sub50ft category.

Since most businesses, particularly small business owners, lack the time, tools and expertise to handle all tasks related to starting, running and marketing their operations, they rely on assistance from professional service firms and institutions such as Chambers of Commerce, Trade Associations, Business Management Consultants etc. Professional service firms provide experts whose vocational training and experience makes them experts in their given fields.

When you need specific assistance in the development of your business into the EU and other international markets, you can contact ExportTrade.EU here (no obligation).

Action Plan for Electronics Industry in Europe

Since 2013, the European Commission (EC) has launched a number of initiatives to support Electronics Strategy for Europe. In 2014, the Electronics Leaders Group (ELG) submitted the Implementation Plan of the European Industrial Strategic Roadmap. This plan engages the whole electronics value chain, including those industries that depend on digital components and systems. At the core of the strategy is also the creation of ECSEL, a Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) for electronics in Europe, to combine resources at project level in support of crossborder industry-academia collaborative R&D&I. Over time, this series of initiatives have been taken, without a fixed plan having been crafted. This strategy should facilitate industry investments of 100 billion euros, allow for flexibility, and help create 250,000 jobs in Europe up to 2020. View for further information >>>

Opportunities in construction, jobs, products and raw materials

In the European Union, the construction sector is of great importance. It provides around 18 million direct jobs and amounted to 8.6 % of EU’s total GDP in 2016. At the same time, creating innovative solutions for social, climate and energy challenges we face today. Total 42.9 million workers in Europe depend, directly or indirectly, on the construction sector. Overall, European Union’s internal market provides international partners access to more than 500 million people and approximately 13 trillion Euro in GDP.

Construction, jobs, products and raw materials:
Up to 95% of construction, architecture, and civil engineering firms are micro-enterprises or small and medium-sized enterprise (SMES). Initiatives in EU countries on energy efficiency have a significant potential for job creation and product supply in this sector. Another approach used to create jobs is the promotion of apprenticeships in the construction industry.
Construction and other sectors: As a major consumer of services and intermediate products such as raw materials, chemicals or electrical equipment, construction impacts many other economic sectors.

Here you can select the country, area, one country in the EU, the entire EU, Europa or International you want to target your business upon. There are many benefits that come with marketing to an international audience that exceed expanding your business. It’s also a good way to improve your brand reputation in a specific target country that has siginficant growth at this moment such as The Netherlands or Denmark but if you wish, all over the world, meaning customers will ultimately be more satisfied with your products. Besides that, you’ll be able to network with important people and create future opportunities for both growth and returns. If your international marketing techniques are successful, you’ll be amazed at the privileges that come your way.

Education and training are crucial for both economic and social progress, and aligning skills with labour market needs plays a key role in this. By the same token, under its Europe 2020 strategy to respond to the economic crisis, the EU set targets to bring the number of early school-leavers down to below 10% and increase the share of graduates from tertiary education to at least 40% by 2020. New industrial developments are demanding new technical skills. There will be a number of new jobs and tasks in industry that are not known presently. More engineers will be needed, in particular in fields like robotics, cyber security, software and hardware integration. The strong presence of technical and practical skills in educational programs will need to be updated and upgraded in order to accommodate contents to the new digital era. Additionally, education and training systems will face the growing challenge of integrating technical, analytical and soft skills training, to promote professionals capable of systemic thinking with an entrepreneurial mindset. Programming and coding skills will be increasingly high in demand in many industrial jobs. LIST YOUR BUSINESS OR SERVICES IN THIS CATEGORY HERE

The sector is its third-largest employer, after construction and food and beverage

With revenues of €535.9b, the creative and cultural industries (CCIs) contribute to 4.2% of Europe’s GDP.
The sector is its third-largest employer, after construction and food and beverage service activities, such as bars and restaurants.

More than 7m Europeans are directly or indirectly employed in creative and cultural activities or 3.3% of the EU’s active population. Performing arts (1,234,500), visual arts (1,231,500) and music (1,168,000) employ more than 1m people each, followed by advertising (818,000), books (646,000) and filme (641,000). LIST YOUR BUSINESS OR SERVICES IN THIS CATEGORY HERE

14 million family businesses provide over 60 million jobs...

Family businesses are the single biggest source of employment in the private sector and that therefore what is beneficial to continuity, renewal and growth in the family business sector is conductive to continuity, renewal and growth in the European economy. 14 million family businesses provide over 60 million jobs in the private sector. In various European countries, family businesses represent from 55% to 90% of all companies, and they are present in businesses of all sizes, from corner shops to big corporations (as an example, 40% of the 250 largest companies in France and Germany are familyowned). Family businesses make up more than 60% of all companies in Europe. They range from sole proprietors to large international enterprises. Big or small, listed or un-listed, family businesses play a significant role in the EU economy. The European Commission recognises this role and promotes the creation of a favourable environment where family businesses can grow and develop. ExporTTrade offers the possibility for family business to develop cross border activities, both within the EU and outside the EU, internationally, through the publication of their business in this trade portal find new contacts and leads. LIST YOUR BUSINESS OR SERVICES IN THIS CATEGORY HERE

EU financial support can be devided between funding - based on grants - and financing - based on loans and guarantees. EU Funding is available for all types of companies of any size and sector including entrepreneurs, start-ups, micro companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, and larger businesses. A wide range of financing is available: business loans, microfinance, guarantees and venture capital. Every year the EU supports more than 200 000 businesses. The decision to provide EU financing will be made by the local ﬁnancial institutions such as banks, venture capitalists or angel investors. EU supports the local financial institutions and can provide additional financing to businesses. The exact ﬁnancing conditions of the amount, duration, interest rates and fees are determined by these ﬁnancial institutions. You can contact one of over 1000 financial institutions to find out more. LIST YOUR BUSINESS OR SERVICES IN THIS CATEGORY HERE

The food and drink industry is the EU's biggest manufacturing sector in terms of jobs and value added.

The food and drink industry is the EU's biggest manufacturing sector in terms of jobs and value added. It’s also an asset in trade with non-EU countries. The EU boasts an important trade surplus in trade in food and EU food specialities are well appreciated overseas. In the last 10 years, EU food and drink exports have doubled, reaching over EUR 90 Billion and contributing to a positive balance of almost EUR 30 Billion.

The EU food and drink industry is…
The first manufacturing industry in the EU, leading in terms of 4.25million people direct employment
€1,090billion turnover | €212billion value added | 4.25million people direct employment

285,000 SMEs account for:
- 49.4% of food and drink turnover | 48.1% of food and drink value added | 62.8% of food and drink employment
- 99% of food and drink companies are SMEs ( SMEs are Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and represent 99% of all businesses in the EU.) LIST YOUR BUSINESS OR SERVICES IN THIS CATEGORY HERE

Technology = opportunities
Despite the pressure on cutting health-care costs, hospitals also want to maintain their high standards of health care. Innovation continues to play an important role. In 2014, more than 11,000 patent applications were filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) in the field of medical technology (7% of the total number of applications), more than any other sector in Europe. Of these patent applications, 41% were filed from European countries and 59% from other countries, with the majority of applications filed from the USA (39%).

Market Opportunity Tips
Provide health-care products that are especially useful in the care for elderly patients. Consider developing an offer that will place more emphasis on telehealth and home diagnostics products. In addition to offering diagnostic devices, consider providing repair services for endoscopy devices. The German repair market for endoscopy devices can be an interesting target market, as it is the largest market in Europe by a long way. As advanced diagnostics requires very high investments, consider investing in the supporting products for diagnostic tools. This can involve a wide range of products; for example, tailor-made sterilisation cages for the sterilisation of expensive equipment such as endoscopes.

This sector of the industrial economy provides equipment and supporting supplies, services, design, for use in many mining, manufacturing, energy and construction sectors, as well as producing domestic appliances. Furthermore, the machinery and equipment manufacturing sector covers arms and ammunition, whether for military or sporting uses, including some military vehicles such as tanks etc.
- General purpose machinery production
- Agricultural and forestry machinery production
- Industrial processing machinery production
- Arms and ammunition production
- Domestic appliances production
- Technical Products Supplies & Services to Industry

One of the key priorities of the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and funding programme is the creation of systemic eco-innovation. The Energy Union strategy calls for the EU to become the world number one in renewables. That would be achieved by investing in innovation and research and development, according to the plan. If successful they could help make Europe a world leader in the new green economy, provided innovation was coupled with the right infrastructure, interconnections and information-sharing, agency bosses heard. The LIFE programme is the European Union’s financial instrument supporting environmental and nature conservation projects throughout the Union. Since 1992 LIFE has co-financed some 4,000 projects. LIFE also provides financing opportunities in form of loans or equity investments for revenue-generating or cost-saving pilot projects promoting the preservation of natural capital, including climate change adaptation projects, through the Natural Capital Financing Facility (NCFF).

The retail and wholesale sectors in Europe significantly contribute to the European economy, accounting in 2011 for 5.4 million businesses, of which two thirds operate in retail (3.6 million businesses) and one third in wholesale (1.8 million businesses). Overall, they represent over 22% of all active non-financial business enterprises, and as many as 30% of all European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across all sectors. Both sectors also generate a combined turnover of €8.3 trillion, of which €2.6 trillion is generated by retail and €5.7 trillion by wholesale. European businesses selling in the EU have unrestricted access to nearly 500 million consumers, helping them to stay competitive. The single market is also attractive to foreign investors.

Economic integration can also be a great advantage in times of recession, allowing EU countries to continue trading with one another, rather than resorting to protectionist measures that would worsen the crisis.

According to an EU study, sports companies in Europe generate sales of 81.5 billion euros. Sport is therefore an "important economic factor" for the EU. The many new product innovations, also in the field of digitalization, lead to good forecasts. But there is the lifestyle of EU citizens.
While professional and amateur sports continue to provide on-field fireworks in the games and events themselves, even more is happening behind the scenes.
- What are the most significant 2018 sports industry trends?
- As sports franchises build state of the art stadiums, fan safety will remain top of mind.
- Innovative ticket packages will compete with for fan attention.
- Advertising spend will shift to digital and social channels to reach millennials.
- Blockchain's capabilities offer potential emerging solutions to challenges the industry is striving to improve.
- The road to professional sports is changing as federal investigations shed light on the business, and corruption, of college sports.
- Social activism in sports is here to stay, and the clock is ticking on brands, leagues, and teams to decide where they stand.

Western and Northern European countries experience an average annual growth in their Travel & Tourism sectors of 2.7%, compared to whole economy growth of 1.9% per year. In Eastern Europe, Travel & Tourism growth of 3.3% is expected to marginally outpace economy-wide growth of 3.2%, while Southern Europe’s Travel & Tourism sector growth of 2.8% per year will outpace economy-wide growth of 2.6%. The market for solo tourism products in Europe is booming. The number of singles is growing, as is the number of people that travel solo by choice. They increasingly tend to visit developing countries, seeking adventures, relaxation, solitude or connection. Self-development and unique experiences are important aspects of solo travel. Personal guided tours are especially popular.

The main cornerstone is road transport (courier services, bulk, cold chain transport, transport of exceptional loads, last mile, parcel services, full load, partial loads, etc.), which accounts for an annual turnover of EUR 140 billion. 88.7% of this is attributable to small and medium-sized enterprises. The largest market player is DB Schenker - European Land Transport, with a share of only 2.2%. Other big names include DHL Freight, TNT Express, Kuehne + Nagel - Road & Rail, DSV, Dachser, SNCF Geodis and GEFCO. The share held by small companies is substantially smaller when it comes to freight forwarding (transport commissioners, groupage, customs operations, overseas, etc.), standing at 59.3%. The main player in this field is DHL Global Forwarding, which has its hands on an 8.7% share of the market, only just pipping Kuehne + Nagel with 7.2%. Other big names in this group include DB Schenker, Sinotrans and Panalpina. This market segment alone is worth EUR 20 billion.

The machinery magazine for processing and packaging manufacturers, Machinery Update, is provided for the manufacturers of machinery in the Processing and Packaging industry which is published by the Processing and Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA).

The machinery magazine for processing and packaging manufacturers, Machinery Update, is provided for the manufacturers of machinery in the Processing and Packaging industry which is published by the Processing and Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA).

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"Theresa May is being warned by the head of the CBI that time is running out to make progress on Brexit and remaining in a customs union with Brussels is the best option for British business.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the business organisation, will stress that urgent progress is needed on agreeing a transitional deal with the EU by the end of March and the framework for the future trading relationship with Brussels must be set out by October.

Businesses are “deeply apprehensive” about the current uncertainty and there has been “too much ideology, too little urgency” in the negotiations, she will say in a speech on Monday."
- ExporTTrade.EU
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